The Arizona Speaker Series has hosted four very different presenters – Sanjay Gupta, Vice President Joe Biden, James Comey and last week, Condoleezza Rice. With three more speakers to go, I can honestly say that I have gotten my money’s worth.

Now, that doesn’t mean I’ve liked all the presenters. And I think that is precisely the point of the series – to bring together different people with different political views, upbringings, career paths and passions. This from the speakers as well as the audience.

I didn’t care for Dr. Rice’s presentation. It felt more like an academic lecture than a presentation. Which does make sense given her current career. But there were a few things that did resonate with me:

Get involved; change your community by volunteering and being engaged.

Absolutely agree with this. Commit to doing something in your community, it will have lasting impact.

Embrace all cultures and faiths and believe in opportunity for all.

And I’d add learn from those from different cultures and faiths.

Do the right thing even when it’s hard.

And take responsibility to do your part to improve the world.

Listen and learn from different perspectives and different points of view.

Vice President/General Manager Abbie has been doing public relations her whole life…from organizing a picket line in 6th grade to organizing client communications today. She’s passionate about a lot of things, you’ll see. Check out Abbie's full bio